'Silent Witness' Reveals New Characters As Season 29 Greenlit

The BBC became the first company to broadcast television programs regularly in 1936, and like everything else the British do, it made sure to create some heirlooms along the way. The BBC's oldest series, The Lord Mayor's Show, launched less than a year later, and 88 years later, it's still broadcast today. The same goes for Panorama, the world's longest-running current affairs show at 71 seasons, The Sky at Night, the world's longest-running science series, and Blue Peter, which is old enough to be the great grandparent of its viewership. The BBC also has the longest-running non-soap opera drama series, Silent Witness, which recently extended its record with a commission for Season 29.

Initially launched in 1996 as part of the "forensic psychology" subset of crime-of-the-week dramas, Silent Witness was one of the earliest shows on the BBC to be created by a former policeman, Nigel McCrery, who retired from Nottingham's detective squad. The series was initially a vehicle for actor Amanda Burton as Dr. Sam Ryan, who starred in the show's first eight seasons. When she decided to move on, the producers reconfigured Silent Witness into an ensemble series led by supporting characters Dr. Harry Cunningham (Tom Ward) and Dr. Leo Dalton (William Gaminara). The series also added Emilia Fox to fill Dr. Ryan's spot as Dr. Nikki Alexander.

Ward lasted through Season 14, with David Caves hired to fill his spot as Dr. Jack Hodgson. Within two seasons, the show had found its chemical magic, and Gaminara exited, leaving Fox and Caves as the Brit's answer to Moonlighting. The show then morphed into more of a Bones romance and, with the most recent season, a legit love story.